BOYS TRACK: Vista Murrieta's Coley Candaele is the Coach of the Year

In a season where boys teams dominated the Inland high school track season, the last coach standing is deserving HSGameTime Boys Track Coach of the Year recognition.

No boys team in Inland history had ever won an outright CIF-State title and now the Coley Candaele-coached Vista Murrieta Broncos have done it two years in a row.

“It's a great accomplishment,” Candaele said amid the State championship celebration on the infield at Buchanan High in Clovis. “We have a great group of seniors that led our way the last two years. We counted on them all year. There are six individuals here and every single one leaves with a state championship either in a relay or individual. Very impressive. Bring six guys, everyone has a blue ribbon going home. That’s pretty amazing.”

It wasn’t easy. Candaele had to delicately manage star senior sprinter Michael Norman, whose peak this year is calendared out a month after the CIF State Meet, not the weekend of like the year before. Candaele had to find a way to defend that state crown amid not being able to defend either the Southwestern League nor CIF-Southern Section Division I crowns.

Norman, even not at his jaw-dropping best from the previous year, was a big reason for that, despite getting ill before his state finals competition. As, too, was keeping senior sprinters Tony Mitchell and Cole Dubots healthy while toggling the relay lineups with seniors Ricky Adams Jr. and Jordan Testerman.

Candaele’s unprecedented accomplishment received the nod here over the impressive seasons by the teams from Great Oak (coached by Doug Soles), Murrieta Mesa (coached by Aaron Ballou), Riverside King (coached by John Corona), and Rancho Verde (coached by Tim Callier).

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